THE mystery of a bizarre mummified creature that seems to be half-monkey, half-fish mermaid may now have been solved – with some surprising results.
The mummy was found off the coast of Japan by an American sailor who later donated it to the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, Ohio, in 1906.
The mysterious beast has the most bizarre features ever seen on an animal - the lower part of the body seems to be a fish-like mermaid, while the top half looks like a monkey with grey hair.
It also has a grimacing face, strange teeth, and oversized claws.
Scientists suspected the oddity was “frankensteined” from several animals decades ago before it turned into a mummy.
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They sent the bizarre creature for a thorough investigation where several X-rays and CT scans were performed - and experts from the field were invited to examine the imagery.
After the results came in, scientists shockingly concluded the so-called mermaid – for the most part – is something else entirely.
Joseph Cress, a radiographer at Northern Kentucky University, was told that the jaw seemed to come from either a stonefish or a toadfish, while its hands seemed to be from a turtle.
However, the expert believes it could just be a sculpture made of different materials.
He said: "Everything else related to this mermaid is completely synthetic.
"So it could be just like papier-mâché from way back in the day when they put this together.
“Even the ridges on the back that kind of seem like they’re where ribs might be… there’s no bones to accompany that.
"There are also some wooden structural supports inside to really act as the frame to hold all of it together.”
“So it looks like it was just purely sculptural and not from a real animal.
Speaking last year, Natalie Fritz from the Clark County Historical Society said the creature was a "Fiji mermaid” – a hoax creature popularised by famous American showman PT Barnum.
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Barnum, whose life inspired the 2017 blockbuster The Greatest Showman, exhibited a similar specimen at his American Museum in New York before it burned down in 1865.
In Japan, legend has it that mermaids grant immortality to anyone who tastes their flesh.
At one temple in Asakuchi, a Fiji mermaid was actually worshipped – though it was subsequently found to be made of cloth, paper, and cotton, decorated with fish scales and animal hair.
In the US, however, such mermaids were curiosities.
Fritz said: "Fiji Mermaids were a part of collections and sideshows in the late 1800s. We've heard some stories from people in the community.
“Some remember seeing it on display in Memorial Hall, the home of the historical society from 1926 to 1986.
“One woman, whose father was the curator in the 1970s recalls that it ‘scared her to death’ when she would visit her dad at work."
Fritz added that the mummy could date back to the 1870s, when records showed the original donor had served in the US Navy.
